


catch a secret that could set you free

by AlexSeanchai (EllieMurasaki)



Series: chart the valley of your dreams [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: (netflix where is the rest of the season), Autistic Adrien Agreste, Autistic Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Canon Autistic Character, F/M, Fluff, Puns & Word Play, assume spoilers through s02 Captain Hardrock, definitely spoilers for s02 Sapotis, okay headcanon but fite me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-06-13 10:06:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15362136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllieMurasaki/pseuds/AlexSeanchai
Summary: "You know what would help? If we could contact each other when we're not suited up. And Rena, too.""...Chat, what did you do.""One phone, two lines. Three heroes. Tell me I'm a genius.""For what?"





	catch a secret that could set you free

"New phone?" asked Adrien, stopping at Alya's desk.

"Oh, yeah," Alya answered, grinning. "I have been saving up for this beauty for _months_." Someone had, anyway. Either that or at least one of Ladybug and Chat Noir were _loaded_. "It shoots 1080p video! On front-facing, too! That upgrade all by itself is worth the price of admission!"

" _Wicked_ ," said Nino, turning in his seat. "Next time we're filming, I'm stealing that!"

"From my cold dead hands, Lahiffe." Not least because Ladybug (at least), as this phone's arrival proved, knew where she lived, and Ladybug and Chat Noir might literally kill her.

Okay, figuratively. But it would still suck.

A chime went off. Adrien pulled out his own phone (Chat Noir-themed case and all; hadn't it been Ladybug-themed last week?) and read it intently. A moment later, he snickered at the screen and started typing.

A moment after that, Alya's phone dinged twice in succession—a text to her personal line, said one sound, and the other a text to _Rena Rouge_!

She checked the latter first, heart racing—

—the lengthy text ended with the phrase _sum of the other sides' squires_.

Sure enough, a moment later another text appeared.

> _LB:_ penalty box

> _CN:_ PUNalty box!

Alya scrolled up far enough to see _squire of the high pot and noose_ and snorted.

> _RR:_ omg dork

Alya's heart clearly needed to give it a rest. She checked the other text: "Marinette's running late," she informed Adrien and Nino. "Overslept."

"Overslept?" Adrien asked, and yawned. "What's that?"

"Something that happens to lesser mortals," Nino answered lightly. "You wouldn't know."

Alya let her head thunk onto the desk. "I am surrounded," she told Marinette's empty seat, "by _dorks_."

* * *

"Pair up for the project," Ms. Bustier said, and immediately Nino turned to Alya.

"Absolutely," said Alya before Nino could say a word.

Adrien glanced at Chloe, who was looking speculatively in his direction, and winced.

"Adrien, since Nino's abandoning you," Alya said sweetly, "why don't you pair up with Marinette?"

Marinette squeaked. Alya elbowed her. Marinette squawked, "I-I-I mean, if to want you!" and promptly hid her reddening face in the textbook.

"That sounds great!" said Adrien, smiling.

"You should probably exchange phone numbers," Alya added cheerily. "To arrange when to work on this."

"No problem," said Adrien, tearing off a corner of a notebook page and scribbling a series of digits. He passed the scrap up to Marinette, and (as obliviously usual, Alya observed) didn't notice the look she wore when their fingers brushed.

Marinette swiped and tapped her phone for a moment. Stopped. Stared at the scrap. "Are you sure you wrote this down right?" she asked, sounding odd.

"Huh?" Adrien got up to examine the number. "No, that's correct."

"Oh." The syllable had a strangled sound. Marinette typed something else.

Adrien's phone jingled. He glanced at it. "Let me take a photo for your contact?"

Blushing, Marinette nodded.

A minute later, Alya's phone dinged.

> _Marinette:_ aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

> _Alya:_ hey now you have an excuse to text him and can't blame it on not officially having his number

> _Marinette:_ AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

* * *

"Great of your parents to let us come over," Adrien remarked to Marinette.

"Yeah," Nino agreed, flopping out on the sofa and pulling Alya down with him.

"Oh, they just want experimental test subjects," Marinette said airily.

"A terrible hardship," Adrien parried. "Do any of today's experiments have cheese?"

Marinette didn't even look at him. "Go place your order."

Adrien shrugged and headed back downstairs.

On the way back up with M. Dupain's promise of lots of cheesy baked goods, and also a platterful of cookies, Adrien heard his phone chime. He didn't drop the platter while grabbing for the phone; not even close. Honest.

> _Lovebug:_ start running, kitty

While he was beginning to type the obvious question, an image popped up: a screenshot of a search for the phrase _nine ways to skin a cat_.

...Uh-oh.

> _Catastrophe:_ if we shadows have offended, speak of how; it will be mended

> _Lovebug:_ exit pursued by ladybug

Adrien, apprehensive now, reached the living room and set the platter on the coffee table. No Ladybug in sight...

"Want to watch something while we work?" Marinette asked, appearing from upstairs with a stack of DVDs.

"I vote classic," Nino said at once, trying to reach a cookie without dislodging Alya.

Alya snickered and grabbed two cookies. "I vote comic." She stuffed one in Nino's mouth.

"Classic, comic..." Adrien skimmed the titles. " _The Princess Bride_?"

"Perfect," said Marinette, and headed to the media center. "Oh!"

"Hm?" said Alya.

"Oh, I just realized." Marinette slid the disc into the player and turned back to Adrien. "I don't have a contact photo for you!"

"Let's fix that," said Adrien, and posed.

"Not with your _model_ smile," Marinette grumbled. She came to stand beside him, phone's front-facing camera at the ready. "Hey, what's the difference between a cat and a comma?"

Adrien gawked at her smile on the screen. He hadn't known she _knew_ any wordplays.

"Don't know?" Marinette smirked. "One's got claws at the end of his paws, and one's a pause at the end of a clause."

He burst out laughing, and she snapped the photo.

"Let me send you a copy of that," Marinette added, sliding around him with fingers flying across the touchscreen.

His phone jingled a moment later to announce its arrival. "Bunny ears?" he asked disbelievingly.

"High-brow humor," Marinette retorted, eyes sparkling.

Alya rolled off Nino to sit up, looking between Adrien and Marinette. "I missed something."

Marinette kept texting. "Not hardly."

Adrien shrugged, thumbing off his phone screen. "I don't know."

And thumbed it right back on again when it chimed: an image texted from Ladybug.

It was unmistakably the same photo. She had run it through a fun filter, putting the black-haired girl in Chat Noir mask and ears and himself in a Ladybug mask, but it was the _same photo_.

> _Lovebug:_ not running very fast kitty

Adrien lifted his gaze to Marinette's face.

Now— _now_ he could see it. His princess's eyes. The same vivid blue as his lady's.

Swallowing hard, Adrien dropped his eyes back to his slippery phone. Switched to texting from his Adrien number. Typed seven characters in the conversation with Marinette:

> _Model Behavior:_ milady?

And pressed send.

Marinette glanced at her screen; Ladybug grinned at him. "Run."

Adrien all but dove down the stairs.

"What on earth—!" exclaimed M. Dupain, only just managing to hang on to his heaping platter of baked goods as Adrien flew past.

"EXIT PURSUED BY HELL HATH NO FURY!" Adrien shouted back.

"Sorry, Papa!" Marinette called, hot on Adrien's heels.

Jump the counter. Bolt out the door. Vault the Agrestemobile. Crap—Gorilla! Dive _behind_ the Agrestemobile—wait for Marinette to hurtle past—

"Tag!" Marinette yelled, slapping him on the shoulder, and didn't slow down.

Adrien gave chase.

Loop the bus shelter. Dash across two streets. Round the park. Catch up—tag her—zoom right past. Back to the bakery. Up the stairs. And wait—and at _just_ the moment, _move_ —

Marinette slammed into Adrien at full speed, her purse thunking into his side with a squeak. He caught her up, pivoting, and swung them to a stop.

She clung to him, breathing hard. She. Ladybug. _Ladybug_ was in his _arms_.

"Hi," said Adrien into her hair.

Marinette giggled. "Hi."

"Jesus Haploid Christ," said Alya, panting, as she came back up the stairs, phone held out as though filming. "What did I _miss_?"

Adrien snickered. "We're slow," he told Alya.

"Very slow," agreed Marinette.

" _So_ slow."

"I have seen faster slugs."

"I have seen faster _snails_."

"On _plates_."

"Swimming through honey."

"Swimming through peanut butter!" Marinette got out, just, before bursting into laughter.

Nino put on a Daveed Diggs swagger. "What did I miss?"

Adrien just twirled a finger through one of Marinette's pigtails.

A long moment later, Marinette pulled back, enough to look up at him. "Are you disappointed?" she asked in a small voice. "In—me. Being me. Just—just _me_."

"Never," Adrien told her. " _Never_ , Maribug."

Marinette blinked three times, and her face lit up with a Ladybug smile.

—Wait. "Are _you_ disappointed?"

"What?" She looked utterly stunned. "Why?"

"I mean. You're always so shy around, uh, me, and that isn't how you act around, uh, anyone else..." He stopped, watching her face go interesting shades of red.

Marinette snapped her head around. "Alya!"

Alya snorted behind her phone, still apparently recording. "Nope. I don't know what you even got yourself into here, girl, but you are dealing with it your _self_."

Marinette sputtered. "ALYA! _Alya he thinks I'm SHY because I'm DISAPPOINTED IN HIM!_ "

"And whose fault is that?" asked Alya, and promptly cracked up laughing.

Marinette buried her face in Adrien's chest.

"...uh, someone is going to have to explain that to me," Adrien said slowly.

Without replying, Marinette let go of him to dig in her purse.

"Waaaait a minute," said Nino. "Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?"

"I don't know," Adrien deadpanned; "what do you think you're seeing?"

Adrien's phone chimed.

> _Marinette:_ I could have fallen in love with you so easily, Chat. I didn't want to. something about already being in love with this cute boy named Adrien?

Adrien's knees wobbled, bringing them both down to the carpet.

"Well," he said, because really there wasn't any other option here, "I'm floored."

"Oh good," Marinette said, giggling, as Adrien tapped away at his touchscreen. "All the better to sweep you off your feet."

> _Model Behavior:_ hi lovebug, i'm adrien, would you--is that a PUN? :D :D :D

> _Lovebug:_ <3

> _Marinette:_ want to kill Alya with me?

> _Model Behavior:_ what did she do?

> _Marinette:_ got you to give me your number. :cat:

—Oh. He'd given her _Chat's_ number.

"Uh. Oops?"

"Yeah. Oops." Marinette hadn't stopped laughing, or typing. "I say again." The plan unfolded in his text app, in brilliant simplicity.

"Anything, milady," Adrien told her.

Marinette whacked him on the shoulder. "Princess ranks lady, you buffoon."

Adrien flicked a glance at the TV, where _The Princess Bride_ 's menu waited for someone to remember to hit Play. "As you wish."

Alya dropped her phone.

 _Ding_ , said Alya's phone; she dove for it, suddenly frantic. Reading the text, her brow furrowed.

> _Lovebug:_ Cat season

"Wabbit season," said Marinette, grinning at Alya.

> _Catastrophe:_ bug season

"Duck season," Adrien added to Alya.

Alya stared at them. "What?"

" _Wabbit_ season!"

> _Lovebug:_ Cat season

" _Duck_ season!"

> _Catastrophe:_ bug season

> _Foxy:_ what

"WABBIT season!"

> _Lovebug:_ Cat season

"DUCK season!"

> _Catastrophe:_ bug season

> _Foxy:_ WHAT

"Better run, Alya," Nino advised.

> _Lovebug:_ FOX SEASON

"ALYA SEASON!" Marinette shrieked, gleefully disentangling herself from Adrien.

Alya bolted.

Marinette collapsed back into Adrien's arms, laughing herself sick.

Adrien thumbed his phone screen off and let himself just hold her.

Said phone promptly chimed: a text from Rena to Chat and Ladybug, a bare Youtube link. He clicked, thumbing the volume-up button a couple of times: it turned out to be a fanvid of an anime he had heard of in passing.

_You can catch a breath_  
_And you can catch the wind,_  
_You can catch your death_  
_Out where the sky don't end._

_You can catch a glance_  
_At where you want to be._  
_You can catch tomorrow,_  
_But you can't catch me._

"'Fox Hunt'?" Adrien asked, stopping the video.

"That's the song, all right," said Marinette.

M. Dupain stuck his head up the stairs. "What's been going on in here? Anyone need anything?"

"Better friends," muttered Nino.

Marinette started humming. Adrien caught on at once. " _Sugar, ooh ooh ooh-ooh ooh ooh,_ " he sang, pulling both of them to their feet. " _Oh honey honey, ooh ooh ooh-ooh ooh ooh,_ " and he swung them into an (admittedly awkward) cha-cha dance. " _You are my candy girl, and you've got me wanting you..._ "

" _I just can't believe the loveliness of loving you,_ " Marinette continued, ever so slightly off key but following his dancing lead well enough. " _I just can't believe it's true..._ "

"Oooooooh," said M. Dupain, and called down the stairs, "SABINE YOU OWE ME FIFTY EURO!"

Marinette stumbled. "You _what_?"

"If it helps," Adrien whispered in her ear, "Tikki and Plagg probably have a bet on too."

"Hmph."

Alya snuck back up the stairs almost as soon as M. Dupain was out of the way. "I come bearing peace offerings?" she said tentatively, holding up a third platter of goodies.

Nino lifted his head off the sofa armrest, having flopped back down at some point. "Ooh. Are there more of those little nut pie things?"

"Tartlets," said Marinette, snagging two of same. One went in her mouth, one in her purse.

"Those."

Alya threw one at him. Nino caught it. Adrien took advantage of their distraction to sneak a chunk of cheese danish into the pocket where Plagg was. Marinette's eyes followed his hand.

"So is anyone going to tell me what just happened?" Nino asked once he'd swallowed the tartlet.

"Mm-mm," said Adrien.

"Mmm," said Marinette.

"Hmm?" said Adrien.

"Hmph," said Alya.

Nino rolled his eyes. "Whenever you want to speak French."

"I'm not entirely sure myself," Adrien admitted. "Hey, Mari." She looked up, her face mere centimeters from his. "Want to go on a date sometime?"

She tilted her head, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Hmmm." She turned far enough to see Alya and Nino, both of whom were staring. "That's going to take some thought."

" _Marinette_ ," Adrien protested, comforted only by how Ladybug's 'I'm just messing with you' tone wasn't actually pointed at him.

She giggled.

"Litter-ally having kittens here!"

Marinette booped his nose without even looking at him. "We're dating," she told the others, and pulled her phone back out:

> _Marinette:_ I know you have better puns than that, kitty

To the saved memes!

Nino held out a hand to Alya. "Pay up."

> _Catastrophe:_ [catsmuow.jpg](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/terminal05/2012/8/14/20/enhanced-buzz-11360-1344992274-0.jpg)

Marinette slumped back against Adrien and groaned. " _You_ ," she said, pointing at Alya and Nino, "no more betting on my love life. And _you_ ," she added, poking Adrien in the chest, "no more friction jokes. I won't let them slide."

> _Catastrophe:_ μsic to my ears

**Author's Note:**

> The story title and one of the song quotes are from "Fox Hunt" by Seanan McGuire. The other song quotes are "Sugar Sugar" by the Archies. The series title is from Seanan McGuire's "Cartography".
> 
> Description of the linked image: a white kitten says "μ". The letter mu sees frequent use in physics as, among other things, the coefficient of friction.


End file.
